ACI Worldwide Inc (ACIW) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. My name is Jose, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the ACI Worldwide Incorporated third-quarter 2024 financial results. (Operator Instructions) Thank you.

謝謝你的支持。我叫何塞，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。此時此刻，我謹歡迎大家閱讀 ACI Worldwide Incorporated 2024 年第三季財務表現。（操作員說明）謝謝。

I would now like to turn the call over to John Kraft. Please go ahead.

我現在想把電話轉給約翰·克拉夫特。請繼續。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone, on today's call. We will discuss the company's third-quarter 2024 results and financial outlook for the rest of the year. We will take your questions at the end. The slides accompanying this call and webcast can be found at aciworldwide.com under the Investor Relations tab and will remain available after the call.

謝謝大家，今天的電話會議大家早安。我們將討論該公司 2024 年第三季業績和今年剩餘時間的財務前景。我們將在最後回答您的問題。本次電話會議和網路廣播附帶的幻燈片可在 aciworldwide.com 的「投資者關係」標籤下找到，並將在電話會議結束後繼續提供。

Today's call is subject to both Safe Harbor and forward-looking statements like all of our events. You can find the full text of both statements in our presentation deck and earnings release, both of which are available on our website.

今天的電話會議受到安全港和前瞻性聲明的約束，就像我們所有的活動一樣。您可以在我們的簡報和收益發布中找到這兩項聲明的全文，兩者都可以在我們的網站上找到。

And with the SEC on this morning's call is Tom Warsop, our President and CEO; and Scott Behrens, our CFO.

出席今天上午 SEC 電話會議的是我們的總裁兼執行長 Tom Warsop；和我們的財務長 Scott Behrens。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Tom.

這樣，我就把電話轉給湯姆。

Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. I appreciate you joining our third quarter 2024 earnings conference call. I'm going to start this morning with some comments on the quarter, and then I'm going to hand it over to Scott to discuss detailed financial results and our increased expectations for the remainder of 2024, then we'll open the line for questions.

謝謝約翰，大家早安。感謝您參加我們的 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。今天早上我將首先對本季度發表一些評論，然後我將把它交給斯科特討論詳細的財務業績以及我們對 2024 年剩餘時間的更高預期，然後我們將打開電話：問題。

Q3 results were ahead of expectations and of the guidance we provided, with total revenue up 24% year-over-year. As we've discussed on recent calls, we are making a conscious effort to accelerate the signing of contracts, both renewal and new and bring those in earlier in the year. As you know, revenue from a renewal contract cannot be recognized earlier than the renewal date. But getting those renewals out of the way allows us to focus on new customer wins and net new contracts are recognized as they're signed. I had very high expectations with the team with respect to this initiative and they have significantly exceeded those expectations.

第三季業績超出預期和我們提供的指導，總收入年增 24%。正如我們在最近的電話會議中討論的那樣，我們正在有意識地努力加快續約和新合約的簽署，並在今年早些時候簽訂合約。如您所知，續約合約的收入不能早於續約日期確認。但是，擺脫這些續約使我們能夠專注於贏得新客戶，並且淨新合約在簽署時得到認可。我對團隊對這項舉措抱有很高的期望，他們的表現遠遠超出了這些期望。

And that continues to allow us to outperform our guidance. Further, signing these new contracts earlier in the year helped reduce the heavy seasonality we've historically seen and is simply derisks obtaining our full year financial guidance.

這使我們繼續超越我們的指導。此外，今年稍早簽署這些新合約有助於減少我們歷史上看到的嚴重季節性，並且只會降低獲得我們全年財務指導的風險。

I'm pleased to let you know we have more than 99% of our full year 2024 revenue forecast either already signed and contracted or covered by a fourth quarter renewal that is well into the final approval process on the customer side. Our pipeline momentum is notably higher than we typically recorded by November, and that allows us to raise our outlook for 2024 again. And probably most important to me, that allows us to turn our attention to 2025 and beyond.

我很高興地告訴您，我們 2024 年全年收入預測的 99% 以上要么已經簽署並簽訂合同，要么包含在第四季度續約中，該續約已進入客戶方面的最終審批流程。我們的管道勢頭明顯高於 11 月的通常記錄，這使我們能夠再次提高對 2024 年的展望。對我來說最重要的可能是，這使我們能夠將注意力轉向 2025 年及以後。

Speaking of 2025, the large sales pipeline and momentum we have as we exit the year sets us up well for continued strength in revenue and EBITDA growth as we go into 2025, even consider the significant outperformance this year. We'll provide further guidance details regarding 2025 when we host our fourth quarter 2024 call in February, but I did want to make sure you heard our preliminary view. Let me give you a little more color on each segment. In the bank segment, revenue was up 43% and EBITDA was up 69% compared to Q3 last year. We saw strength in real-time payments with revenue growth of 72%.

說到 2025 年，我們在今年結束時所擁有的龐大銷售管道和勢頭，為我們進入 2025 年時收入和 EBITDA 增長的持續強勁奠定了良好基礎，即使考慮到今年的顯著優異表現。當我們在 2 月召開 2024 年第四季電話會議時，我們將提供有關 2025 年的進一步指導細節，但我確實想確保您聽到了我們的初步觀點。讓我為每個部分提供更多的顏色。與去年第三季相比，銀行部門的營收成長了 43%，EBITDA 成長了 69%。我們看到了即時支付的強勁勢頭，營收成長了 72%。

While our real-time product revenues can be lumpy, we're clearly seeing good momentum in the space, including another central infrastructure win in Mexico and some industry-leading offerings in South Africa.

雖然我們的即時產品收入可能不穩定，但我們清楚地看到該領域的良好勢頭，包括墨西哥的另一項中央基礎設施勝利以及南非的一些領先業界的產品。

Our real car solutions are a great business for ACI, and they're also a win for the world. Hopefully, you saw our recent press release highlighting how real-time payment adoption is expected to boost global economic growth by speeding the movement of money and increasing financial inclusion, helping millions emerge from poverty via access to lower-cost financial services.

我們的真實汽車解決方案對 ACI 來說是一項偉大的業務，也是世界的勝利。希望您看到我們最近的新聞稿，其中強調了即時支付的採用將如何透過加速資金流動和提高金融包容性來促進全球經濟成長，透過獲得低成本的金融服務幫助數百萬人擺脫貧困。

I really encourage you to take a look at that press release and the report that we refer to in it. There's some powerful data in that report. It certainly generated lots of attention laws in Beijing a few weeks ago attending Sibos. And that's -- for those of you who haven't been, Sibos is, I believe, the world's largest payments conference, financial services this year, as I said, in China. In other areas of our banking segment, our issuing and acquiring solution revenues were also up nicely, growing 40% from last year's level.

我真的鼓勵您查看該新聞稿以及我們在其中提到的報告。該報告中有一些強有力的數據。幾週前參加 Sibos 時，它確實在北京引起了很多關注。對於那些沒有參加過的人來說，我相信 Sibos 是今年在中國舉行的全球最大的支付和金融服務會議。在我們銀行業務的其他領域，我們的發行和收單解決方案收入也有不錯的成長，比去年的水準成長了 40%。

These proven solutions are powering some of the largest, most innovative financial services companies in the world. During Q3, we renewed and expanded relationships with leaders such as Worldpay, and a very large payment facilitator in South America.

這些經過驗證的解決方案正在為世界上一些最大、最具創新性的金融服務公司提供動力。在第三季度，我們更新並擴大了與 Worldpay 等領先企業以及南美洲一家大型支付服務商的關係。

Speaking of next-generation solutions, our payment hub technology investments are continuing. Development is on track, and we remain extremely focused. As discussed throughout the year, we expect to have tangible solution for customers to review by year-end. Our offering will be cloud native, increasing flexibility in terms of how customers utilize the tools and in terms of the breadth of customer segments we can target. It's not just our traditional very large bank segment.

說到下一代解決方案，我們的支付中心技術投資仍在繼續。發展已步入正軌，我們仍然高度專注。正如全年討論的那樣，我們希望在年底前為客戶提供切實可行的解決方案供其審查。我們的產品將是雲端原生的，從而提高客戶如何使用工具以及我們可以瞄準的客戶群的廣度方面的靈活性。這不僅僅是我們傳統的大型銀行部門。

Conversations with customers continue to be encouraging. I met with a very large South American financial institution CEO recently and explained the advantages of our approach as is often the case when I do this, he asked if he could be an early adopter.

與客戶的對話持續令人鼓舞。我最近會見了一位非常大的南美金融機構首席執行官，並解釋了我們方法的優勢，就像我這樣做時經常發生的情況一樣，他問他是否可以成為早期採用者。

Unfortunately, I had to tell them our beta client list is already full. No earnings call in technology would be complete without a mention of artificial intelligence. So let me reiterate, we're using AI in multiple ways driving productivity in software development, testing, customer service and fraud detection. As I mentioned before, we're taking a co-work approach with AI essentially pairing our team members with an AI called [indiscernible] doing air quotes there to give the benefits of AI tool and the human expertise we are well known for.

不幸的是，我不得不告訴他們我們的測試版客戶名單已經滿了。如果不提及人工智慧，技術領域的財報電話會議就不完整。因此，讓我重申一下，我們正在以多種方式使用人工智慧來提高軟體開發、測試、客戶服務和詐欺檢測的生產力。正如我之前提到的，我們正在採取與人工智慧合作的方法，本質上是讓我們的團隊成員與一個名為[音訊不清晰]的人工智慧配對，在那裡進行空中報價，以發揮人工智慧工具和我們眾所周知的人類專業知識的優勢。

I'll move on to the Biller segment, where revenue was up 5%. Recall that we discussed last quarter's record revenue growth would not continue at the double-digit rates due mainly to higher-than-expected volumes with the IRS. Last year's third quarter, it was a very tough compare that included high margin revenue from certain customers that won't recur as were one-off items. In Q3, we signed many important renewal and expansion contracts, including with 1 of the largest utilities in the United States. Overall, the biller segment is performing well.

我將繼續討論 Biller 部門，該部門的收入成長了 5%。回想一下，我們討論過上季創紀錄的收入成長不會繼續以兩位數的速度成長，這主要是由於美國國稅局的交易量高於預期。去年第三季度，這是一個非常艱難的比較，其中包括某些客戶的高利潤收入，這些客戶不會像一次性專案那樣重複出現。在第三季度，我們簽署了許多重要的續約和擴建合同，其中包括與美國最大的公用事業公司之一的合約。整體而言，計費部門表現良好。

Moving to the Merchant segment. Revenue grew 38% and EBITDA grew 159% compared to Q3 last year. This growth was partially driven by licensed software renewals and encouragingly, our transaction-based recurring revenue continued to decline, growing 5% in the quarter. It's not quite at our target yet, but we're going in the right direction with improvements each quarter this year as we projected.

轉向商家部分。與去年第三季相比，營收成長了 38%，EBITDA 成長了 159%。這一成長部分是由授權軟體更新推動的，令人鼓舞的是，我們基於交易的經常性收入繼續下降，本季成長了 5%。雖然還沒有完全達到我們的目標，但我們正朝著正確的方向前進，正如我們預期的那樣，今年每個季度都有所改進。

I also want to highlight a couple of items that occurred subsequent to quarter end. First, I hope you saw our press release announcing the hire of Eric Litch as our new Head of Merchant Solutions. I've known Eric for years, dating back to our days at Fiserv and I'm convinced he is the right leader for this very important business.

我還想強調季度末後發生的幾件事。首先，我希望您看到我們宣布聘請 Eric Litch 擔任我們新的商家解決方案主管的新聞稿。我認識 Eric 多年，可以追溯到我們在 Fiserv 的日子，我相信他是這項非常重要的業務的正確領導者。

Second, a few days ago, ACI signed a very significant contract with Quick Trip, Quick Trip is one of the largest convenience store and fuel store retailers in the United States. Quick Trip chose ACI's hosted omnichannel solutions because of our class-leading scalability, reliability and our reputation for exceeding service level commitments. I'm excited about our opportunity in the merchant space into 2025 and beyond.

其次，幾天前，ACI與Quick Trip簽署了一份非常重要的合同，Quick Trip是美國最大的便利商店和加油店零售商之一。Quick Trip 選擇 ACI 的託管全通路解決方案是因為我們領先的可擴展性、可靠性以及我們在超越服務水準承諾方面的聲譽。我對 2025 年及以後我們在商業領域的機會感到興奮。

Overall, I'm quite pleased with our progress, and I remain excited about our opportunity. We're focused on sales execution and the development of our next-generation payments hub platform, both of which position the company for long-term profitable growth and significant incremental shareholder value.

總的來說，我對我們的進展感到非常滿意，並且對我們的機會仍然感到興奮。我們專注於銷售執行和下一代支付中心平台的開發，這兩者都使公司能夠實現長期獲利成長和顯著增量股東價值。

I'll turn it over to Scott to discuss financials and our guidance. Scott?

我會將其交給斯科特討論財務狀況和我們的指導。史考特？

Thanks, Tom, and good morning, everyone. I first plan to review our financial results for Q3 and then provide our outlook for the rest of 2024. We'll then open the line for questions. Revenue in the quarter was $452 million, up 24% compared to Q3 2023 and adjusted EBITDA was $167 million, up 61% from Q3 2023. As Tom mentioned, we had particular strength in the bank segment and more specifically with real-time payments, which was up 72% from last year.

謝謝，湯姆，大家早安。我首先計劃回顧我們第三季度的財務業績，然後提供我們對 2024 年剩餘時間的展望。然後我們將開通提問熱線。該季度營收為 4.52 億美元，較 2023 年第三季成長 24%，調整後 EBITDA 為 1.67 億美元，較 2023 年第三季成長 61%。正如 Tom 所提到的，我們在銀行領域尤其是即時支付領域擁有特殊優勢，比去年成長了 72%。

In the bank segment, revenue of $222 million was up 43% compared to Q3 last year. Bank segment adjusted EBITDA of $154 million was up 69% compared to Q3 last year and bank SaaS, while a smaller portion of the total, grew 15% in the quarter. Our merchant segment revenue was $50 million, up 38% compared to Q3 last year, and adjusted EBITDA was $27 million, up 159% compared to Q3 last year. While we did benefit from license-based customer renewals in the quarter, our recurring revenue in the segment has continued to steadily improve throughout this year.

銀行業務收入為 2.22 億美元，較去年第三季成長 43%。銀行部門調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.54 億美元，與去年第三季相比成長了 69%，銀行 SaaS 雖然佔總數的一小部分，但在本季增加了 15%。我們的商家部門營收為 5,000 萬美元，比去年第三季成長 38%，調整後 EBITDA 為 2,700 萬美元，比去年第三季成長 159%。雖然我們確實從本季度基於授權的客戶續約中受益，但我們在該領域的經常性收入在今年持續穩步提高。

Lastly, our Biller segment revenue was $180 million, up 5% compared to Q3 last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $31 million, down compared to Q3 last year due to a particularly strong quarter last year, which included certain onetime nonrecurring margin benefits that did not recur here in Q3 2024 and we continue to see strong cash flow generation with cash flow from operations of $54 million, more than double Q3 last year.

最後，我們的 Biller 部門營收為 1.8 億美元，比去年第三季成長 5%。調整後EBITDA 為3,100 萬美元，較去年第三季有所下降，原因是去年季度特別強勁，其中包括某些一次性非經常性利潤收益，這些收益在2024 年第三季度沒有出現，我們繼續看到營運現金流產生強勁的現金流5,400 萬美元，是去年第三季的兩倍多。

We ended the quarter with $178 million in cash on hand, a debt balance of $1 billion and a net debt leverage ratio of 1.6x and approximately $650 million in liquidity. With our strong cash flow growth and our lowest leverage in well over a decade, combined with our improved outlook for 2024 and our expectations of continued strength in 2025 enable us to reduce our long-term stated leverage target from 2.5x down to 2x. We'll continue to maintain a disciplined long-term focused capital allocation strategy that balances reinvestment in the business, accretive M&A and share repurchases while maintaining a strong balance sheet with ample liquidity and financial flexibility.

本季結束時，我們手頭現金為 1.78 億美元，債務餘額為 10 億美元，淨債務槓桿率為 1.6 倍，流動資金約為 6.5 億美元。憑藉強勁的現金流成長和十多年來的最低槓桿率，加上我們對2024 年前景的改善以及對2025 年持續強勁的預期，使我們能夠將長期既定槓桿率目標從2.5 倍降至2 倍。我們將繼續維持嚴格的長期資本配置策略，平衡業務再投資、增值併購和股票回購，同時保持強勁的資產負債表、充足的流動性和財務靈活性。

During the quarter, we repurchased approximately 200,000 shares for $8 million of capital, which brings our year-to-date total to approximately 4 million shares for $128 million in capital. And at the end of the quarter, we had approximately $372 million remaining available on the share repurchase authorization.

本季度，我們以 800 萬美元的資本回購了約 20 萬股股票，這使得我們年初至今的總股本達到約 400 萬股，資本為 1.28 億美元。截至本季末，我們還有大約 3.72 億美元的股票回購授權可用。

So turning next to our outlook. Having made significant progress in advancing our full year bookings pipeline with more than 99% of our full year 2024 revenue outlook already signed and contracted or representing license contracts renewing here before the end of the year, we are raising our guidance range for both revenue and adjusted EBITDA. We now expect revenue to be in the range of $1.567 billion to $1.601 billion and adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $433 million to $448 million. And notably, we are currently tracking to the high end of both the revenue and EBITDA ranges.

接下來轉向我們的展望。我們在推進全年預訂管道方面取得了重大進展，2024 年全年收入展望的 99% 以上已經簽署並簽訂合同或代表在年底前續簽許可合同，我們正在提高收入和收入的指導範圍調整後的EBITDA 。我們目前預計營收將在 15.67 億美元至 16.01 億美元之間，調整後的 EBITDA 將在 4.33 億美元至 4.48 億美元之間。值得注意的是，我們目前正在追蹤收入和 EBITDA 範圍的高端。

Our improved outlook for 2024, combined with a strong sales pipeline, we are seeing exiting the year gives us confidence of continued strength in revenue and EBITDA growth in 2025. We'll provide further guidance details regarding 2025 when we host our Q4 2024 call later in February. So in summary, a really strong quarter of revenue, EBITDA and cash flow growth, allowing us to raise our outlook for this year, and we really have a lot of momentum as we exit 2024 that gives us confidence of continued strength as we look into 2025.

我們對 2024 年的展望有所改善，加上強勁的銷售管道，我們預計這一年即將結束，這讓我們對 2025 年收入和 EBITDA 成長持續強勁充滿信心。當我們在 2 月稍後召開 2024 年第四季電話會議時，我們將提供有關 2025 年的進一步指導細節。總而言之，一個非常強勁的季度收入、息稅折舊攤銷前利潤(EBITDA) 和現金流增長，使我們能夠提高今年的前景，而且在2024 年結束時，我們確實擁有很大的動力，這讓我們有信心在我們展望未來時繼續保持強勁勢頭。

So with that, I'll pass it back to Tom for some closing remarks. Tom?

因此，我將把它傳回給湯姆，讓他做一些結束語。湯姆？

Thanks, Scott. In summary, we are pleased to continue delivering results that are in line with or above expectations. Looking forward, our pipeline is strong, and we're focused and optimistic regarding both our growth and our ability to deliver significant shareholder value. We look forward to catching up with you in the coming weeks. Thank you for joining our call.

謝謝，斯科特。總之，我們很高興繼續提供符合或高於預期的結果。展望未來，我們的管道很強大，我們對我們的成長和提供顯著股東價值的能力感到專注和樂觀。我們期待在未來幾週內與您聯繫。感謝您加入我們的通話。

Operator, we can now take questions.

接線員，我們現在可以提問了。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Trevor Williams, Jefferies.

特雷弗威廉斯，杰弗里斯。

Yes, I wanted to ask a bigger picture question on the medium-term outlook for growth in banks. Tom, maybe if you could maybe help us distill down the main drivers behind this segment staying as -- think of an upper single-digit grower over the medium term? What's structurally changed here over the last few years, whether that's product set, changes to go to market, end market health, any more detail there on kind of what underpins your confidence in the medium-term outlook for banks would be great.

是的，我想就銀行的中期成長前景提出一個更宏觀的問題。湯姆，也許你能幫助我們提煉出這個細分市場背後的主要驅動因素——想想在中期內出現一個上個位數的種植者嗎？過去幾年這裡發生了結構性變化，無論是產品組合、進入市場的變化、終端市場的健康狀況，還是任何有關支撐您對銀行中期前景信心的更多細節都會很棒。

Yes, sure, Trevor. So lots of things, as you can imagine. But I think you mentioned market strength. We're definitely having different types of conversations with our customers. And I'm going to come at that from 2 angles.

是的，當然，特雷弗。很多事情，正如你可以想像的那樣。但我認為你提到了市場實力。我們肯定會與客戶進行不同類型的對話。我將從兩個角度來闡述這一點。

One is our customers are thinking about their business is healthy. They're investing quite heavily in new products and they're looking for help. They're looking for a partner that can help them figure out how do they apply technology to make the entire business more efficient and faster to market.

一是我們的客戶正在考慮他們的業務是否健康。他們在新產品上投入了大量資金，並且正在尋求幫助。他們正在尋找一個合作夥伴，幫助他們弄清楚如何應用技術來使整個業務更有效率、更快地推向市場。

And ACI, given our history and the long relationships we have with most of these financial institutions, we're a natural choice. I think historically, we have probably spent most of the time with our customers on renewals, talking about, hey, 5 years from now, we need to talk about a renewal. Well, now we're talking to them consistently throughout the year, throughout the 5-year period of the license, and we're talking about the future. And as we've begun to ramp up discussions around the payments hub, that's even building on this. And so now, I mean I heard from a very, very large Asia Pacific customer.

而 ACI，考慮到我們的歷史以及我們與大多數此類金融機構的長期關係，我們是一個自然的選擇。我認為從歷史上看，我們可能花了大部分時間與客戶討論續約，談論，嘿，從現在起 5 年後，我們需要談論續約。好吧，現在我們在全年、整個許可證的 5 年期間與他們持續交談，我們正在談論未來。當我們開始加強圍繞支付中心的討論時，這甚至是在此基礎上進行的。現在，我的意思是我收到了一位非常非常大的亞太客戶的來信。

I was in Asia, as I mentioned on the earlier I was in Asia recently. And I was talking to this customer and they said, ACI is showing up differently. We're having these conversations about how you can help us achieve our objectives. Your products are critical to what we do. There's -- that's always been the case.

我在亞洲，正如我之前提到的，我最近在亞洲。我正在與這位客戶交談，他們說，ACI 的表現有所不同。我們正在討論您如何幫助我們實現目標。您的產品對我們的工作至關重要。情況一直如此。

It continues to be the case. But they feel like we are much more of a partner. So that's a lot of words, Trevor, but I think we have a really important role with these customers. We are continuing to exercise some pricing power that we have, we've always had. But I think most importantly, we are being perceived as a partner, and we're talking about how we help them achieve their objectives, and they're much more I'm not going to say they're happy about paying more and about continuing to do more business with us, but they are comfortable with that because they see us as part of the solution to their future.

情況仍然如此。但他們覺得我們更像是個合作夥伴。特雷弗，說了很多話，但我認為我們在這些客戶中扮演著非常重要的角色。我們將繼續行使我們一直擁有的一些定價權。但我認為最重要的是，我們被視為合作夥伴，我們正在談論如何幫助他們實現目標，而且他們更願意付出更多，我不會說他們願意付出更多繼續與我們開展更多業務，但他們對此感到滿意，因為他們將我們視為他們未來解決方案的一部分。

Okay. No, I appreciate all that. And then the -- just when you guys are talking about having the almost all of this year's renewals, either contracted or signed and then you're shifting focus to 2025 aside from just giving us better visibility into kind of what revenue looks like over the next year or two. Is there anything else strategically that, that enables when you get more of the renewal activity done earlier in the year, whether that's freeing up more sales focus for cross-sell and upsell. Just how we should think about that kind of strategic impact and how that can have an impact on the growth algo.

好的。不，我很欣賞這一切。然後，就在你們談論今年幾乎所有的續約（無論是簽約還是簽約）的時候，你們將重點轉向 2025 年，除了讓我們更好地了解今年的收入情況之外明年或兩年。當您在今年稍早完成更多續訂活動時，是否還有其他策略性的措施可以幫助您騰出更多的銷售重點來進行交叉銷售和追加銷售。我們應該如何考慮這種戰略影響以及它如何對成長演算法產生影響。

Yes. So I'll make the comment and then Scott may have a thought on this, too. But I think there are 2 main benefits. One is -- and you just said it, we have almost no -- in fact, I don't expect Scott and myself to have a single conversation about a renewal for the remainder of this year. We're talking about how do we help our sales and account management team structure new business in 2025 and beyond. That's all we're talking about now.

是的。所以我會發表評論，然後斯科特可能也會對此有一個想法。但我認為有兩個主要好處。一是——你剛才說過，我們幾乎沒有——事實上，我不希望史考特和我自己就今年剩餘時間的續約問題進行一次對話。我們正在討論如何幫助我們的銷售和客戶管理團隊在 2025 年及以後建立新業務。這就是我們現在討論的全部內容。

So whereas normally, we spend quite a bit of time thinking about how do we answer customer questions, how do we get these renewals signed up. We don't have to do that at all. So we're focused on the pipeline and setting up Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 of next year. So that's probably the biggest thing.

因此，通常情況下，我們會花很多時間思考如何回答客戶問題，以及如何註冊這些續訂。我們根本不必這樣做。因此，我們專注於通路並設定明年的第一季、第二季、第三季、第四季。所以這可能是最重要的事情。

The second thing though is, I mentioned the payments hub, and we've made great progress on that. We're very close to having solution that we can start to actually demonstrate to our customers. And now what I'm spending most of my time on right now is sitting down with customers and potential customers and giving them much more insight into what that payment hub looks like, what the benefits they're going to get will be. And I think I was -- I tried to be a little bit funny. Our beta client -- we have so many customers asking to be early adopters, you obviously can't have them all.

第二件事是，我提到了支付中心，我們在這方面取得了巨大進展。我們非常接近找到可以開始向客戶實際演示的解決方案。現在我大部分時間都花在與客戶和潛在客戶坐下來，讓他們更深入地了解支付中心是什麼樣子，以及他們將獲得什麼好處。我想我是——我試著表現得有趣一點。我們的測試版客戶端—我們有很多客戶要求成為早期採用者，顯然你不可能擁有全部。

You have to narrow the list. So it's -- so on the one hand, it's allowed us really to focus on next year, which we are. And on the other hand, it's allowed me in particular, but our sales team as a whole, to focus on helping customers understand where we're going and how they can leverage the investments that we're making.

你必須縮小清單範圍。所以，一方面，它讓我們能夠真正專注於明年，而我們現在也是如此。另一方面，它讓我（尤其是我們整個銷售團隊）專注於幫助客戶了解我們的發展方向以及他們如何利用我們正在進行的投資。

Yes. Trevor, the only thing I'd add to that, I've been around a long time and ACI has a history of -- well, first of all, the bank -- especially on the bank side, it's a long sales line. And we have a history of that sales cycle coming to fruition in the fourth quarter and late in the fourth quarter. And I think what you see here is 2 things. One is we have substantially completed this year's new business really in end of September.

是的。Trevor，我唯一要補充的是，我已經工作很長時間了，ACI 有著悠久的歷史——首先是銀行——尤其是在銀行方面，它有一條很長的銷售隊伍。我們有這樣的銷售週期在第四季和第四季末實現的歷史。我認為你在這裡看到的是兩件事。一是我們今年的新業務確實在九月底就基本完成了。

I mean it's not now in November. It was really earlier in the year. And that allows us to turn the focus to accelerate that pipeline. Again, a pipeline that otherwise may have came to fruition in the fourth quarter of next year is now maybe pushed to the third quarter of next year and potentially earlier.

我的意思是現在不是十一月。那確實是今年早些時候的事情。這使我們能夠將重點轉向加速該管道。同樣，原本可能在明年第四季實現的管道現在可能被推遲到明年第三季甚至更早。

So what it really frees us up to do like Tom said is, listen, we can accelerate and spend time accelerating next year's pipeline. And what that allows us to do, not just for '25 and '26, that allows us to continue on the path towards our long-term stated growth goals.

因此，它真正讓我們有時間去做，就像湯姆說的那樣，聽著，我們可以加速並花時間加速明年的管道。這使我們能夠做的不僅僅是 25 和 26 年，還使我們能夠繼續朝著我們既定的長期成長目標前進。

Peter Heckmann, D.A. Davidson.

彼得‧赫克曼，D.A.戴維森。

I apologize, I missed the beginning of the call, I had some trouble getting online. But can you repeat your comments on 2025? I mean that was going to be kind of my leading question after a year where it looks like software license fees could be up 20% on the year. It just does seem to prevent -- present a pretty tough comparison to continue strong overall growth rates, at least in certain quarters next year. And -- so just wanted to see if you could repeat that real quick.

抱歉，我錯過了通話的開頭，我上網時遇到了一些問題。但您能重複一下您對 2025 年的看法嗎？我的意思是，這將成為我一年後的主要問題，軟體授權費看起來可能會比當年上漲 20%。它似乎確實阻止了——至少在明年的某些季度，與持續強勁的整體成長率進行相當艱難的比較。而且——所以只是想看看你是否能很快重複一遍。

Yes. No, I mean I think Pete, just [follows up] on the last question is what we're able to do now is really focus on pulling that pipeline forward. So what we're looking at is it's probably as strong of a pipeline for '25 exiting this year is probably we've had at this point in time going into anything here. So Tom's comments on the introductory port were that even though we are outperforming this year. our pipeline for next year as it even sits today is healthy enough to keep us on our growth.

是的。不，我的意思是，我認為皮特，只是[跟進]最後一個問題，我們現在能做的就是真正專注於推動管道向前發展。因此，我們正在考慮的是，今年退出的「25」的管道可能與我們目前在這裡進行的任何事情一樣強大。因此，湯姆對介紹性連接埠的評論是，儘管我們今年表現出色。我們明年的管道即使在今天也足夠健康，足以讓我們保持成長。

Yes. And I mean, specifically, we didn't give any specific numbers, Pete. But what I said was that we are well positioned to continue to see strength in 2025 and beyond even with the outperformance.

是的。我的意思是，具體來說，我們沒有給出任何具體數字，皮特。但我想說的是，即使表現出色，我們也有能力在 2025 年及以後繼續看到實力。

Okay. Got it. That's helpful. And then -- and again, I apologize if I missed it. I had some just connection problems.

好的。知道了。這很有幫助。然後——再一次，如果我錯過了，我深表歉意。我遇到了一些連接問題。

But I heard you say that the Payments hub is on track, and you hope to have a product you've been showing customers by year-end. But when do you think you might start the pilots and then have the hub go into general availability.

但我聽說您說支付中心已步入正軌，您希望在年底前向客戶展示一款產品。但您認為什麼時候可以開始試點，然後讓該中心全面投入使用。

Yes. I would expect to see the initial pilot implementations probably the beginning of second quarter next year. And then we -- I don't know exactly when the full-scale general availability will be. We want to be very, very thoughtful about making sure that it's working exactly as we want. And get those initial pilots really solid.

是的。我預計最初的試點實施可能會在明年第二季初進行。然後我們 - 我不確切知道什麼時候該全面上市。我們希望非常非常仔細地確保它完全按照我們想要的方式運作。並讓那些最初的飛行員真正可靠。

So I won't make a -- put a stick in the ground on that, but we feel really good about it, and it's not something that's -- we don't require very much of that for our next year expectations.

所以我不會在這上面放一根棍子，但我們對此感覺非常好，而且這不是我們明年的期望不需要太多的東西。

Jeff Cantwell, Seaport Research.

傑夫‧坎特威爾，海港研究中心。

I wanted to ask post election, can you talk about the coming administration change here in the U.S.? Give us some of your early thoughts in terms of how you think that might impact your business as far as next year is following here. When you provided the medium-term guidance back in March, it was under different leadership here to U.S. Maybe tell us what some of your initial reactions are here. It seems like perhaps regulation, taxation and other things, it could potentially be shifting a little more positively and many of us saw the banking sector was up a lot in the market yesterday, particularly many of the larger GSIBs.

我想問選舉後，可以談談美國即將到來的政府更迭嗎？請給我們一些您的早期想法，看看您認為這可能會如何影響您明年的業務。當您在三月提供中期指導時，美國的領導層與美國不同。看起來監管、稅收和其他方面可能會發生更積極的變化，我們很多人都看到昨天市場上的銀行業大幅上漲，尤其是許多較大的 GSIB。

And clearly, that's an important customer segment for you guys.

顯然，這對你們來說是一個重要的客戶群。

So could you help frame this perhaps it might increase the pipeline or could see more transaction growth, things like that. Would you -- we'd love to get your initial thoughts and areas where there could potentially be some impact down the road.

那麼您能否幫助建立這個框架，也許它可能會增加管道或可能會看到更多的交易成長，諸如此類。您願意嗎？ 我們很想了解您的初步想法以及未來可能產生影響的領域。

Jeff, you mentioned an election. Was there an election? No, sorry, to trying to be funny. But yes, I mean, look, I don't have a solid view on it, but I think there's definitely potential good news as the market thinks given what happened yesterday with the banking segment. We certainly hope that there's maybe a little bit less regulation in the U.S.

傑夫，你提到了選舉。有選舉嗎？不，抱歉，我只是想搞笑。但是，是的，我的意思是，我對此沒有明確的看法，但我認為，考慮到昨天銀行業發生的事情，市場認為肯定有潛在的好消息。我們當然希望美國的監管能少一點。

Hopefully, we see a little more transaction growth, as you said, that's all -- that would all be upside for us. And we -- but we haven't obviously built any of that into our forecast because it's so new, and we just don't have a handle on it yet.

希望我們能看到更多的交易成長，正如您所說，僅此而已 - 這對我們來說都是有利的。但我們顯然還沒有將這些納入我們的預測，因為它太新了，我們只是還沒有掌握它。

But I do want to just make sure that I say we're obviously a global company. And so the U.S. is a big part of our business. It's not the majority of our business. So even though we probably see a little bit easier, if that's even the right word, regulatory environment in the U.S., I don't really see much change in the rest of the world.

但我確實想確保我所說的我們顯然是一家全球性公司。因此，美國是我們業務的重要組成部分。這不是我們的大部分業務。因此，儘管我們可能會看到美國的監管環境變得更容易，如果這是正確的話，但我並沒有看到世界其他地區有太大變化。

I think it will continue the way we were expecting. Europe is usually at the vanguard of regulation on many things, and we're there are things that have to be done there, and that's not changing given the U.S. election. But I'm cautiously optimistic, but I don't have a lot to tell you quantitatively.

我認為它會按照我們預期的方式繼續下去。歐洲通常在很多事情上處於監管的先鋒地位，我們有一些事情必須在那裡完成，考慮到美國大選，這一點不會改變。但我持謹慎樂觀的態度，但我沒有太多可以量化的告訴你。

Yes, Jeff, and I think the only thing I'd add to that is that, I mean, obviously, if you look at the results the last few years, banks have really opened up the wall and have been spenders in buyers of technology, buyers of -- they're going through modernization efforts. I think if you look at recent developments, I think it's really that banks have a lot of tailwinds right now, whether it's regulatory, economic, the overall marketplace. So we would just expect that to contribute to more spending on the [indiscernible] Banks. So pretty encouraged by what opportunities we have with that customer base.

是的，傑夫，我想我唯一要補充的是，我的意思是，顯然，如果你看看過去幾年的結果，銀行確實打開了圍牆，並且一直在技術買家上花錢，購買者——他們正在經歷現代化的努力。我認為，如果你看看最近的發展，我認為銀行現在確實有很多順風車，無論是監管、經濟還是整個市場。因此，我們只是期望這有助於增加[音訊不清晰]銀行的支出。我們與該客戶群所擁有的機會讓我們深受鼓舞。

Got it. Okay. Great. And then just a follow-up on an earlier question. I want to make apologies I also joined a little bit a few minutes.

知道了。好的。偉大的。然後是對之前問題的後續回答。我想表達歉意，我也加入了一點幾分鐘。

And could you talk about -- as you think about the guidance that you provided for the medium term, has there been any change under the hood as far as the segments themselves, you might just welcome us through, it seems like banks is performing very strongly and so forth. So curious if you could help us understand in terms of the revenue outlook for each segment, where expectations might be shifting?

您能否談談 - 當您考慮為中期提供的指導時，就細分市場本身而言，幕後是否有任何變化，您可能只是歡迎我們通過，看起來銀行的表現非常好強烈等等。很好奇您能否幫助我們了解每個細分市場的收入前景，預期可能會發生哪些變化？

Yes. Banks has been strong. Banks -- the expectation is going to continue to be strong. Billers, it had some seasonality in that business. If you recall from the second quarter, we had a strong tax quarter in terms of the tax transactions.

是的。銀行一直很強勁。銀行－預期將持續強勁。比勒斯，這項業務有一些季節性。如果您還記得第二季度，我們在稅務交易方面經歷了強勁的稅務季度。

We got a favorable award in terms of the go-forward business that we have with the IRS going forward that begin to contribute here next year, the exit rate for the biller business, should accelerate a bit on a sequential basis quarter-over-quarter.

我們在與國稅局的未來業務方面獲得了有利的獎勵，明年開始在這裡做出貢獻，開票業務的退出率應該會比上一季環比加快一點。

And then the merchant business has been -- if you recall last year, early part of the year, we were seeing a bit of a decline in that business. Flip positive in the second half, and we've been incrementally more positive each quarter this year. So I think going back to our comments, without providing 2025 outlook by segment, I think all will nicely contribute to growth next year.

然後，商業業務——如果你還記得去年，今年年初，我們看到該業務略有下降。下半年情況轉好，今年每季我們都變得更積極。因此，我認為回到我們的評論，在不按細分市場提供 2025 年展望的情況下，我認為所有這些都將為明年的成長做出很好的貢獻。

Yes. And you were asking about if there's anything under the that's changed. I really don't think so. I think the businesses are performing generally in line with where we thought. Banks has been extremely strong, and that's been one of the primary drivers of our overperformance this year, and we expect it to continue to be strong.

是的。你問的是下面是否有任何改變。我真的不這麼認為。我認為這些業務的表現大致符合我們的預期。銀行業務一直非常強勁，這是我們今年表現出色的主要驅動力之一，我們預計它將繼續強勁。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

George Sutton, Craig-Hallum Capital.

喬治·薩頓，克雷格·哈勒姆資本。

This is actually Logan on for George. First one, I wanted to kind of stay on the topic of the banks there. You guys have talked about those midsized banks being kind of an incremental opportunity for you guys. I'm just wondering if you can give us any more color on sort of how much are those now, if any, contributing to the segment? And where do you think that can go in the future?

這實際上是洛根為喬治做的。首先，我想繼續討論那裡的銀行的話題。你們談到這些中型銀行對你們來說是一種增量機會。我只是想知道您是否能為我們提供更多信息，說明這些人現在對該細分市場的貢獻有多大（如果有的話）？您認為未來會走向何方？

Yes. I mean we have specifically not been driving far into the sales process with the payments hub, which is where that opportunity primarily comes from. And I've talked about that a lot. I don't -- I do not want us to get ahead. I do not want to be selling PowerPoint, which companies do and probably ACI has done in the past.

是的。我的意思是，我們還沒有深入推進支付中心的銷售流程，而這正是機會的主要來源。我已經談過很多次了。我不——我不希望我們取得領先。我不想銷售 PowerPoint，而公司會這樣做，也許 ACI 過去也這樣做過。

So we're not doing that.

所以我們不會那樣做。

We're talking about here's where we're going. These are the advantages that will be there. Here's the schedule that we're on. We'll show it to you when it's ready to be shown. We've got lots of interest, but in terms of what that segment is contributing, it's small.

我們正在談論的是我們要去的地方。這些都是將會存在的優勢。這是我們的日程安排。當它準備好展示時，我們會向您展示。我們有很多興趣，但就該部分的貢獻而言，它很小。

It's very small. We have some business with mid-tier banks, but in terms of our flagship products, not very much. We tend to focus those through fintech partners historically. So not a whole lot of contribution directly from that segment at this point, but a lot of interest.

它非常小。我們與中型銀行有一些業務，但就我們的旗艦產品而言，業務量並不大。從歷史上看，我們傾向於透過金融科技合作夥伴來關注這些內容。因此，目前該細分市場並沒有直接做出太多貢獻，但引起了許多興趣。

Yes. And I think, Logan, this is Scott. I think we're -- yes, obviously, the bank strength we're seeing today is not a result of us going downstream into that. I mean, that's really coming from our core large bank segment. And I think even when we get into the mid-tier, it's really going to manifest itself more on the SaaS side than on the license software side.

是的。我想，羅根，這是史考特。我認為我們——是的，顯然，我們今天看到的銀行實力並不是我們向下游發展的結果。我的意思是，這確實來自我們的核心大型銀行部門。我認為，即使我們進入中間層，它實際上也會更多地體現在 SaaS 方面，而不是許可軟體方面。

So that market will be more served be it our SaaS market. So really, what you're seeing in the strength in banks is really buying technology on-premise license software, and that's really still the big thing, but midtier should start to kick in next year and most likely from a SaaS delivery money.

因此，我們的 SaaS 市場將獲得更多服務。所以，實際上，你所看到的銀行實力實際上是購買技術本地許可軟體，這仍然是一件大事，但中層服務應該會在明年開始啟動，而且很可能來自 SaaS 交付資金。

Got it. And then just one follow-up. Can you maybe just touch a little bit on sort of the competitive environment you see in the real-time payment space? I mean is more of that business coming from kind of upselling with current customers? Are you looking at new customers?

知道了。然後只有一個後續行動。能否簡單談談您在即時支付領域看到的競爭環境？我的意思是，更多的業務是否來自於對現有客戶的追加銷售？您在尋找新客戶嗎？

And then maybe kind of with those new customers, are you seeing any change in the competition out there for winning those?

然後，也許對於這些新客戶來說，您是否看到贏得這些新客戶的競爭有任何變化？

Yes. So -- that's -- most of the new business we're getting, it's not usually expansion in that particular area. If we're talking about real-time payments, so I mentioned earlier, we have another central infrastructure win. So when we say central infrastructure, what we mean is our software is actually powering the entire countries instant payments or real-time payment scheme. And we signed another one in Mexico in the third quarter.

是的。因此，我們獲得的大部分新業務通常不是在該特定領域的擴張。如果我們談論的是即時支付，那麼我之前提到過，我們在中央基礎設施方面取得了另一個勝利。因此，當我們說中央基礎設施時，我們的意思是我們的軟體實際上為整個國家的即時支付或即時支付方案提供支援。第三季我們在墨西哥又簽了一份合約。

So we're up to 11 central infrastructures. And those are all net new.

所以我們有多達 11 個中央基礎設施。這些都是全新的。

I mean they're not just new to us. Those are brand-new period. So there was no -- there was no central infrastructure in many of these places. And we are helping typically the central bank, but sometimes an agent of the Central Bank. We're helping them set the program up when we do a central infrastructure deal.

我的意思是它們對我們來說不僅僅是新的。那是全新的時期。所以很多地方都沒有中央基礎設施。我們通常會幫助中央銀行，但有時也幫助中央銀行的代理人。當我們進行中央基礎設施交易時，我們正在幫助他們制定計劃。

And again, we have 11 of those around the world. And then the other side on real-time payments is when we help the individual payment schemes. So the -- each country has 1 or sometimes more than 1 of these payment schemes. And so we'll -- our software often powers those schemes.

再說一次，我們在世界各地有 11 個這樣的機構。即時支付的另一面是我們為個人支付方案提供協助。因此，每個國家都有 1 個或有時不只 1 個此類支付方案。因此，我們的軟體通常會為這些方案提供支援。

So we've got the central structure. We've got the real-time payments schemes in an individual country. And then we have the work that we do for banks and ultimately for merchants to connect into those real-time payment schemes. So we kind of have 3 angles on this. All of them are performing well.

這樣我們就有了中心結構。我們在各個國家/地區都有即時支付計劃。然後我們為銀行以及最終為商家所做的工作連接到這些即時支付方案。所以我們對此有3個角度。他們都表現良好。

The vast majority of that business is new to us. it is not expansion. Sometimes, we have an existing relationship with the bank, and we'll add on real-time payments. So that way -- that cross-sell. But most of that business is net new.

絕大多數業務對我們來說都是新的。這不是擴張。有時，我們與銀行有現有的關係，我們會添加即時付款。這樣——交叉銷售。但大部分的業務都是全新。

Now there are other things other than real-time payments, instant payments in our real-time numbers, for example, wire transfers. And sometimes we do expand those. So there's a variety of things, but when we're talking about instant payments, in the U.S., it's Fed now and the TCH rails. When we're talking about those, that's almost all net new.

現在除了即時支付之外，還有其他的東西，我們即時數字中的即時支付，例如電匯。有時我們確實會擴展這些。所以有各種各樣的事情，但當我們談論即時支付時，在美國，現在是美聯儲和 TCH 軌道。當我們談論這些時，這幾乎都是全新的。

Yes. And I think the only thing I'd add to that is that really from a competitive environment standpoint, nothing's really changed. And I think if you look at the results of our Real-Time segment even in Q3, up 70-plus percent over last year. Big part of that is there's just tremendous growth there. There's a lot of land grab.

是的。我認為我唯一要補充的是，從競爭環境的角度來看，一切都沒有真正改變。我認為，如果你看看我們的即時部門的結果，即使在第三季度，也比去年增長了 70% 以上。其中很大一部分是那裡有巨大的增長。有大量土地被掠奪。

We've got the technology, we have the relationship. So it's definitely delivering results. And again, the competitive environment really hasn't changed.

我們有技術，我們有關係。所以它肯定會帶來結果。再說一遍，競爭環境確實沒有改變。

Yes. And sorry, I forgot to answer that part of your question. Thank you, Scott. There was an example recently, I think it was actually in the fourth quarter that it was announced. But Mastercard actually made an announcement in South Africa around real-time payments and MasterCard driving adoption of real-time payments.

是的。抱歉，我忘了回答你問題的這一部分。謝謝你，斯科特。最近有一個例子，我想實際上是在第四季度宣布的。但萬事達卡實際上在南非發布了關於即時支付的公告，萬事達卡推動了即時支付的採用。

And they're using our software to do that, and they acknowledge the partnership that we have. So even sometimes when it looks like there's a new competitor or there's a -- maybe we didn't win something. Oftentimes, we're part of that solution anyway, and that's a great example of that. And that's a great partnership we have with MasterCard in various places around the world.

他們正在使用我們的軟體來做到這一點，並且他們承認我們的合作夥伴關係。因此，即使有時看起來有一個新的競爭對手，或者有一個——也許我們沒有贏得一些東西。通常，無論如何，我們都是該解決方案的一部分，這就是一個很好的例子。我們與萬事達卡在世界各地建立了良好的合作關係。

Peter Heckmann, D.A. Davidson.

彼得‧赫克曼，D.A.戴維森。

Okay. I just had a follow-up on that last one. It reminded me, Tom, you were talking about kind of the current seat at the table that kind of gives you a right to bid on these payment hubs opportunities. It's as that we talk a lot about with ACI. But can you remind us, I think on like wires, I think ACI powers some high percentage, 25% to 30% of wires and and then also attachments to Swift systems.

好的。我剛剛對最後一個進行了跟進。這讓我想起，湯姆，你正在談論當前的席位，這讓你有權競標這些支付中心的機會。我們經常談論 ACI。但您能否提醒我們，我認為在類似的電線上，我認為 ACI 為較高比例的電線（25% 到 30%）以及 Swift 系統的配件提供動力。

Can you talk a little bit about those systems and how you talked about many of these institutions that we target already have a relationship with you either through that, through real time or through the core debit ATM switch.

您能否談談這些系統，以及您如何談論我們針對的許多機構已經透過即時或核心借記 ATM 交換機與您建立了關係。

Yes. Sure, Pete. So we -- just to give you just a couple of figures, just to set a little context. So our wires system, our wireless platform banks around the world use that to process trillions of dollars, that's trillion with a T, every day, and it's highly reliable, incredibly scalable and it is -- we often -- I often talk about ACI is powering the world's payments ecosystem. There's a big part of it.

是的。當然，皮特。所以我們只是給你幾個數字，只是為了設定一些背景。因此，我們的有線系統、我們世界各地的無線平台銀行每天都使用它來處理數萬億美元，這就是萬億美元，而且它高度可靠，具有令人難以置信的可擴展性，而且它是-我們經常- 我經常談論ACI正在為世界支付生態系統提供動力。其中有很大一部分。

Similarly, our issuing and acquiring platforms handle also trillions of dollars of payments every single day. And we do business with all of the 20 largest banks in the world. And the majority of -- but the significant majority of the largest 100 and you could even go down to 200 largest banks in the world. So our platforms have very important places in the payments infrastructure of the largest financial institutions in the world. And that's where my comment comes from.

同樣，我們的發行和收單平台每天也處理數兆美元的付款。我們與全球 20 家最大的銀行都有業務往來。世界上最大的 100 家甚至 200 家銀行中的大多數——但絕大多數都是如此。因此，我們的平台在世界上最大的金融機構的支付基礎設施中佔有非常重要的地位。這就是我的評論的來源。

We -- I met with one of the largest banks in the world. I met with their CEO about a month ago. And we had this -- we had a fantastic conversation.

我們—我會見了世界上最大的銀行之一。大約一個月前，我會見了他們的執行長。我們進行了一次精彩的談話。

The conversation without the future, how does ACI help them just like I was talking about earlier. But he made a fascinating comment to me. He said, we haven't talked in like 9 months, and he said, that's a really good thing. And I kind of looked at it and I said, well, wait, I hope that's a good thing. He said, no, no, no. Trust me, that's a good thing because if we were talking more often, that means something was wrong. He said, I really enjoyed this conversation about the future, and I want to have more of those, but I don't have to think about ACI. Your products just work and I'm not losing any sleep. My team isn't losing any sleep.

沒有未來的對話，ACI 如何幫助他們，就像我之前談到的那樣。但他對我做了一個有趣的評論。他說，我們已經 9 個月沒有說話了，他說，這真是一件好事。我看著它，然後說，好吧，等等，我希望這是一件好事。他說，不，不，不。相信我，這是一件好事，因為如果我們交談得更頻繁，那就代表出了問題。他說，我真的很喜歡這次關於未來的對話，我希望有更多這樣的對話，但我不用考慮 ACI。你們的產品很有效，我也沒有失眠。我的團隊沒有失眠。

So that's -- the fact that we have these long relationships that our platforms are so important to their infrastructure, and that they don't worry about us.

事實上，我們擁有長期的合作關係，我們的平台對他們的基礎設施非常重要，而且他們不擔心我們。

They know our stuff is going to work. That -- all that together is why we have the -- we are one of the usual suspects when they need help and when they're thinking about the future and how they deal with things that are changing in their environment. So that's where I'm coming from on that. You mentioned real-time payment.

他們知道我們的東西會起作用。所有這些加在一起就是為什麼我們——當他們需要幫助時，當他們思考未來以及如何處理環境中正在發生變化的事情時，我們是通常的嫌疑犯之一。這就是我的出發點。您提到了即時支付。

That's another one that tends to be relatively new, not the wires part, but the instant payments pieces. Those are relatively new, but it's -- I think the fact that we keep winning these deals is further evidence of that. They look to us even though that's a new thing, they say, well, I rely on ACI so much for my payments in other areas. Obviously, they're a great partner or a potential partner on real-time payments.

這是另一個相對較新的部分，不是電匯部分，而是即時支付部分。這些都是相對較新的，但我認為我們不斷贏得這些交易的事實進一步證明了這一點。他們對我們寄予厚望，儘管這是一個新事物，但他們說，好吧，我在其他領域的付款非常依賴 ACI。顯然，他們是即時支付的優秀合作夥伴或潛在合作夥伴。

Okay. And that's what really, I think, makes the thought -- me thinking about developing a payment hub platform a little bit easier to get to because ACI already has systems that are doing wires, cross-border real-time debit ACH and so you're really just having to add maybe a couple of other payment modalities and you really have a whole package.

好的。我認為，這才是真正讓我想到開發一個支付中心平台更容易實現的原因，因為 ACI 已經擁有可以進行電匯、跨境實時借記 ACH 的系統，所以你’實際上只需要添加一些其他付款方式，您就真的擁有了一個完整的套餐。

That's exactly right, Pete. And on the payment hub, that's why these conversations are so straightforward for me because no customer or prospective customer ever has set to me or even hinted to me that it doesn't make sense to have the conversation with ACI. It's obviously, we should have that conversation, given our history and your presence in the market.

完全正確，皮特。在支付中心，這就是為什麼這些對話對我來說如此簡單，因為沒有客戶或潛在客戶向我設定或甚至向我暗示與 ACI 進行對話沒有意義。顯然，考慮到我們的歷史和你們在市場上的存在，我們應該進行這樣的對話。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining you. May now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入。現在可以斷開連線。